If you are a TA, please check off all of the
physics courses which you are TAing.

Course

TAing?

Course

TAing?

Course

TAing?

Phys1110

yes

no

Phys2010

yes

no

Phys3330

yes

no

Phys1120

yes

no

Phys2020

yes

no

Grading any 3000 level course

yes

no

Phys1140

yes

no

Phys2150

yes

no

Grading any 1000 level course

yes

no

Grading any 2000 level course

yes

no

Grading any 4000 level course

yes

no

Introduction

Here are a number of statements that may or may not describe your beliefs
about learning physics. You are asked to rate each statement by selecting
a number between 1 and 5 where the numbers mean the following:

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neutral

Agree

Strongly Agree

Choose one of the above five choices that best expresses your
feeling about
the statement. If you don't understand a statement, leave it blank. If you
have no strong opinion, choose 3.

We are asking that you express your own beliefs. Your answers will not affect
your grade. Your instructor
will never see your individual answers, only whether you participated and
the class results as a whole. This information will be very helpful to
us in an effort to design more effective physics courses.

Survey (8-10 minutes)

A significant problem in learning physics is being able to memorize all
the information I need to know.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

When I am solving a physics problem, I try to decide what would be a reasonable value for the answer.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I think about the physics I experience in everyday life.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

It is useful for me to do lots and lots of problems when learning physics.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

After I study a topic in physics and feel that I understand it, I have difficulty solving problems on the same topic.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Knowledge in physics consists of many disconnected topics.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

As physicists learn more, most physics ideas we use today are
likely to be proven wrong.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

When I solve a physics problem, I locate an equation that uses the variables given in the problem and plug in the values.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I find that reading the text in detail is a good way for me to learn physics.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

There is usually only one correct approach to solving a physics problem.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I am not satisfied until I understand why something works the way it does.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I cannot learn physics if the teacher does not explain things well in class.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I do not expect physics equations to help my understanding of the ideas; they are just for doing calculations.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I study physics to learn knowledge that will be useful in my life outside of school.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

If I get stuck on a physics problem on my first try, I usually try to figure
out a different way that works.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Nearly everyone is capable of understanding physics if they work at it.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Understanding physics basically means being able to recall something you've read or been shown.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

There could be two different correct values for the answer to a physics problem
if I use two different approaches.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

To understand physics I discuss it with friends and other students.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I do not spend more than five minutes stuck on a physics problem before giving up or seeking help from someone else.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

If I don't remember a particular equation needed to solve a problem on an exam, there's nothing much I can do (legally!) to come up with it.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

If I want to apply a method used for solving one physics problem to another problem, the problems must involve very similar situations.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

In doing a physics problem, if my calculation gives a result very different from what I'd expect, I'd trust the calculation rather than going back through the problem.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

In physics, it is important for me to make sense out of formulas before I can use them correctly.

It is important for the government to approve new scientific ideas before they can be widely accepted.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Learning physics changes my ideas about how the world works.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

To learn physics, I only need to memorize solutions to sample problems.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Reasoning skills used to understand physics can be helpful to me in my everyday life.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

We use this statement to discard the survey of people who are not reading
the questions. Please select agree (not strongly agree) for this question.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Spending a lot of time understanding where formulas come from is a waste of time.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I find carefully analyzing only a few problems in detail is a good way for me to learn physics.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

I can usually figure out a way to solve physics problems.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

The subject of physics has little relation to what I experience in the real world.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

There are times I solve a physics problem more than one way to help my understanding.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

To understand physics, I sometimes think about my personal experiences and relate them to the topic being analyzed.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

It is possible to explain physics ideas without mathematical formulas.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

When I solve a physics problem, I explicitly think about which physics ideas apply to the problem.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

If I get stuck on a physics problem, there is no chance I'll figure it out on my own.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

It is possible for physicists to carefully perform the same experiment and get two very different results that are both correct.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

When studying physics, I relate the important information to what I already know rather than just memorizing it the way it is presented.

Strongly Disagree

1

2

3

4

5

Strongly Agree

not answered

Additional Questions (2-4 minutes)

Currently, what is your level of interest in teaching physics?

Very Low

Low

Moderate

High

Very High

not answered

Why?

What is your gender?

We thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. Your participation
is really helpful because knowing more about students' beliefs about physics
helps improve our teaching practices.

I ...
agree ...
do not agree ... to
permit the
investigators to obtain
and use my
course grades, attendance records, and GPA for this
research to improve this and other courses in science. This information
will be seen only by the researchers. Identifying information (name, ID)
will only be used to combine these survey answers and the coursework data
and will be deleted prior to any subsequent analysis.

By pressing submit you are agreeing to participate in
this research project as outlined in the Informed Consent Document above.
If you do not want to participate, simply do not answer the questions and submit
only your name and ID......